UK moves to ban Pakistani Taliban after fresh terror threats

London: Britain on Tuesday moved to ban
Pakistan-based Tehrik-e-Taliban as a terrorist group, weeks
after intelligence reports that the outfit was planning to
carry out Mumbai-style attacks in the country and mainland
Europe.

The order moved in British Parliament will make
membership of Pakistani Taliban and raising funds for the
organisation in UK a criminal offence.

Home Secretary Theresa May introduced the order in
parliament for its approval. The order will ban the Pakistani
Taliban under the British Terrorism Act.

"I have laid an order which will proscribe
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, proscription is a tough but
necessary power to tackle terrorism and is not course of
action we take lightly," she said.

Tehrik-e-Taliban, a Pakistani terrorist group most
closely aligned to banned al-Qaeda, is based in north-western
part of the country and has carried out large number of
attacks in Pakistan.

"Proscription means that membership of
Tehrik-e-Taliban will become a criminal offence and the
organisation will not be able to lawfully operate in UK, or
raise funds in the country," the British minister said.

The proposed order will be debated in parliament later
this week and approved.

Forty six militant groups deemed by British government
to be international terrorist organisations are banned under
the Terrorism Act 2000 which includes al-Qaeda.

The move comes after British security and intelligence
agencies carried out countrywide swoops to foil terror plots
in the country. Last year, Pakistani Taliban had threatened to
carry out fresh terror attacks in UK, US and Europe.